3.They would witness the judgment of God on the
rebels in the camp of Israel
time & again.

4.God knew Moses & Aaron would be brought
to the brink of despair & that their anger would rise against the people.

5.So before all of that began, He gave them
this crucial word about their role as leaders.

6.They were to bless the people, not blast
them!

B.What’s Your View of God?

1.What’s your view of God?How do you see Him?

2.In our modern, scientific age, some people
see God as a quaint, old-fashioned idea that is now rather irrelevant. They don’t
need to resort to ‘God’ to explain the mysteries of the universe because that’s
the job of science & reason.

3.Others see God as a rather senile
old man, a grandfatherly figure who rocks away on His heavenly chair,
smiling benignly at all people with a ‘live & let live’ kind of all-encompassing
acceptance.

4.Then there are those who see God as a divine
concierge, a deity who sits patiently to the side, ready to perform
some service when He’s needed – but content to stay out of the way till then.

5.But one of the most common views people have
of God is that He’s angry & ready to hurl bolts of lightening to earth to fry
all the wretched villainy & scum.

a.this view
of God is so common because many of God’s people present Him that way – as
an angry God who is just itching to smite sinners!

c.protests,
placards, boycotts, angry editorials, insults all combine to give people the
impression that God is angry & ready to blast them.

6.Now, it’s true God is angry at sin & will
judge it.

a.but the
reason why He delays judgment of sin is because in His love for sinners, He
gives them space to repent!

b.God doesn’t want to blast them, He wants to
bless them!

7.These words, spoken to Moses to be given to
Aaron show us that God desires to bless - not curse us.

8.He longs for us to know the goodness of His
love & the benefits of His favor.

9.Let’s look at it more closely . . .

II.TEXT

A.Vs. 22-23

22And
the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 23“Speak
to Aaron & his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children
of Israel.

1.As the priest of Israel, it was Aaron’s duty to
stand before God on behalf of the people & perform the duties of sacred
worship.

2.But that was only half of his job.The other half was to stand before the people
on behalf of God & convey His blessing on them.

3.God wanted the people to realize that being
in covenant relationship with Him would result in incredible blessing.

4.When Adam & Eve were created, they were
in intimate relationship with God & enjoyed the blessing of His
unrestrained favor.

a.their
home was paradise, their lives unending delight & joy.

b.peace
reigned over all creation.Their
existence was the epitome of blessing.

5.But they turned from God to sin &
self.The curse replaced blessing.

a.paradise
became a battlefield, joy turned to sorrow & pain.

b.war came
to planet earth.

c.& all
Adam’s descendants have been born into a world marked more by the curse than
the blessing God originally intended.

6.God has made a way for Adam’s sons &
daughters to come out from under the curse & re-enter the blessing.

a.this way
is by entering into a covenant relationship with God.

b.just as
Adam & Eve turned from God to sin & saw the blessing lost to the curse,

c.so Adam’s
progeny can turn from sin back to God & see the blessing
restored.

d.in the
OT, the way of restoration was through the covenant God made with Israel.

e.in the
NT, the way of restoration is through Christ.

7.God wanted the children of Israel to know
how passionately He loved & wanted to bless them.

a.so He
told Aaron that when he came out of the tabernacle after officiating at the
altar on their behalf,

b.because
they had given themselves to the Lord in their sacrifices -

c.He would
give Himself to them, showering His favor upon them.

8.But this favor wasn’t just God’s feeling
good about them.

9.No, His favor would take tangible form – they were
to experience
it!& so the words of the blessing .
. .

B.V. 24

a.if you were
blessed in this way it meant you enjoyed plenty of descendants, flocks, &
harvests.

b.it meant
your external life was doing super-well; business was booming.

2.It’s important we realize the blessings God
intends for His people aren’t all just spiritual things.

a.He wants
our whole
life to be blessed.

b.since we are
physical creatures living in a physical world, He wants us to experience
blessing in that realm too.

c.now,
there will be seasons in which some lesson the Lord wants to teach us will require
that the physical experience of blessing is withdrawn so the deeper, eternal
blessing of the inner person can be learned.

d.but we
must not think God’s desire to bless us is confined to just spiritual things.

e.He wants
to bless us materially too!

3.But God knows that material prosperity can be
dangerous,
so Aaron was to say - “The Lord bless you & keep you;”

a.many neglect
the Lord when things are good.

b.plenty
can be dangerous if it results in our forgetting God.

c.so Aaron
was to place the Lord’s keeping power on the people, that
their prosperity would not move them to forget the Lord, or think they didn’t
need Him anymore.

d.this is a
blessing of protection, not just from physical enemies without but tendencies
within that would distance us from the God of blessing.

4.We see this idea echoed in the Lord’s prayer
when Jesus said we were to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

a.we are to
look to God for our physical provision, for material blessing.

b.but how
much do we pray for?Today’s needs!

c.“Bless me
Lord with what I will need today.& tomorrow I’ll be back for its
portion.”

d.in Proverbs 30:8-9 we find this wise rule for living -

Give
me neither poverty nor riches—Feed me with the food allotted to me;Lest I be full & deny You, &
say, “Who is the Lord?” Or
lest I be poor & steal, & profane the name of my God.

5.So Aaron was to show the children of Israel that God desired to take
care of them materially & to protect them from both external & internal
harm.

“The
Lord bless you & keep you;

C.V.
25

1.Then he was to say . . .

The
Lord make His face shine upon
you, & be gracious to you;

2.A shining face meant a smile.

a.if one’s
countenance had fallen or darkened, it meant a frown of disapproval.

3.God want so much for the people to realize
that He delighted in them!

4.When they were giving themselves to Him in
worship, it totally stoked Him!

5.He wasn’t angry with them, fuming at their
stupidity, & chomping at the bit to smite them with plagues.

6.He loved & delighted in them!

7.Yes, there were times when like little kids
they did foolish things that required His discipline but God’s general
disposition toward them was one of joy & delight.They brought a smile to His face!

8.The blessing Aaron was to impart was the
realization that God likes His people!That He likes being with them!

9.We know God loves us, but do we
realize He likes us?

a.I suspect
sometimes we think God loves us because, well, He HAS to!

b.He’s God &
God is Love & all that so He loves us because it’s sort of part of the
package of being God.

c.we need
to realize it’s far more than that – God likes us!

10.Occasionally you’ll hear a parent say about a
child they’re having a problem with, “I love him but I do not like
him very much!”

a.we
understand this because we can sympathize with the uncompromising &
unconditional love a mother or father has for their child -

b.& how
at the same time the child’s attitude & behavior can be so hurtful &
damaging that the parent finds nothing to like about that child.

11.God wanted the people of Israel to
understand that not only was He committed to love them no matter what as their
Heavenly Father – He also LIKED them! They made Him smile when they gave
themselves to Him.

12.In the Bible, the Lord’s face refers to His immediate
presence.

13.When Aaron said –

The
Lord make His face shine upon you
. . .

a.the
people were to realize that God was not some far off deity who attended to
matters from a distance.

b.He was right
there, present among them, & digging every minute of it!

14.Is this your understanding of God?

a.you’ve
come here to worship God - do you realize He’s stoked by that & smiling
from ear to glorious ear?

b.He’s here
right now & digging this!God
doesn’t just love you – He likes you!

d.He wants
to be more than your God; He wants to be your best & closest friend!

15.There’s more – v. 25 . . .

The
Lord make His face shine upon
you, & be gracious to you . . .

a.this word
“grace” is a bit different from the one we find in the NT.

b.this
speaks of the benefits that come to a person because of a covenant they’ve made
with another.

c.Aaron is
saying – The Lord is pleased with you, enjoy His good pleasure!

d.as your
truest friend, He is here now to provide you whatever you need!

16.Do you have any friends who are powerful, rich,
or influential people?

b.if your
best friend was Shaquille O’Neal,
you’d get season tickets to the Lakers & would be invited to special
parties where you could hobnob with the whole team.

c.if you
were best friends with Bill Gates,
you’d get to go on unbelievable vacations to exotic locales & eat food made
by the world’s finest chefs, as well as have the cutting edge of electronic
technology.

d.if you
were best friends with the President of
the United States, you’d get to meet world leaders & the cream of the
crop of today’s national celebrities.That friendship would open any door to you!

17.Aaron is saying to the people – you are best friends with God.That friendship has opened doors for you that
are beyond comprehension!

18.God has
showered you with favor!

19.[LPFM & land]

a.have
thought – “If only we had some connection, some ‘in’ with someone in the
decision making process.” (grease the skids of our app)

b.we
do!Our best friend is the King of kings
& Lord of lords.

c.He over
rules in the affairs of Earth.

d.Jesus,
would You please show us favor & push through our permit for the tower &
gives us favor with the land owners?

20.Where do you need favor?Where would you like to see God’s influence &
power work?

21.Tell your Best Friend who is here & smiling
His delight on you right now.

D.V. 26

1.Then Aaron was to say . . .

The
Lord lift up His countenance upon
you, & give you peace.”’

2.God wanted them to understand that He was
paying attention to them.

3.He’d not hidden His face from them but was
gazing intently on them.

4.They must never think that God plays hide &
seek or that He’s too busy with something else to take care of them.

5.They are the object of His attention
24/7/365.

6.The word ‘peace’ is shalom.

a.it meant
far more to the children of Israel
than just the absence of war.

b.peace was
the state of being whole, complete, lacking nothing.

c.peace spoke
of provision without & rest within.

7.Only God can bring this kind of peace for
only God can satisfy the longing of our hearts for purpose & meaning.

8.As Augustine well said, we were created for
God, & our souls are restless until they find their rest in Him.

E.V. 27

So
they shall put My name on the children of Israel, & I will bless them.”

1.It’s with these words the high priest would mark
the people as being in covenant relationship with God.

2.And with these words, the blessing would come on them!

3.Note something here – this wasn’t a prayer
or a teaching
Aaron was to give.

a.he wasn’t
to say, “May the Lord bless you.”

b.it was
the pronouncement
of blessing, the means by which blessing would come on the people.Look at the last words of v. 27 - “I WILL bless them.”

c.in v. 23
God said . . . “This is the way you shall bless
the children of Israel.”

4.God didn’t want Moses & Aaron as the
leaders of the nation to blast the people but to bless them.

5.God would take care of the work of
discipline when the people erred, but Aaron’s task was to continually, daily
remind the people that God’s heart was to bless them!

III.CONCLUSION

A.Blessing

1.God has not changed.His heart for His people is the same today as
then.

2.A new covenant has come but God’s heart
remains the same –

a.He wants
to bless you & take care of all your material needs.

b.He wants
to protect
you & keep you safe from all enemies, both those without & within.

c.He wants
you to know just how much He likes you & how close He wants
to be to you, showering you with all the benefits He has to bring.

d.and He
wants you to know that you are the object of His closest attention & to
enjoy the fullest life a human being can have.

3.All of this was repeated by
Jesus in John 10 where we read . . .

I
have come that they may have life, & that they may have it more
abundantly.

4.Jesus came to bring us not mere
survival, but abundant life

a.the Lord
yearns for us to experience all of His love & grace.

b.to enjoy
being His best friends!

B.All Priests

1.What Aaron was charged to say over the
children of Israel,
you & I have the privilege to say to one another!

2.For as Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9, in Christ
we are all priests!

3.What are your life & words saying to the people
around you about the heart & desire of God?